On Envy (Materialism in a University)

I remember one of Club’s ministry times when Kuya Von shared about Envy. Probably, this is an issue no one bothers a lot, but could actually kill almost every college student.

iPod here. Laptop here. Cellphone there. What else? As a generation accesorized with expensive techie materials, I am not surprised of the desire to being in the updated ones. Aside from the different socio-economic status that this generation has, I think the parent-factor gives more trick to this issue.

Whatever materialistic status in the society we have is much created by our parents. I remember the movie “The Proposal”. But anyway, we don’t get to choose how rich or poor we are. We don’t also get to choose our parents. Most of the materialistic possesions of the people is a function of what the parents can provide. Take note of the word ‘most’.

In the age group I’m in, the biggest push for envy is a function of the socio-economic productivity. Example, my classmate has iTouch and of course I don’t have one. Simply because the socio-economic productivity of his family is monetarily higher then giving their family a higher purchasing power (than my family).

A big chunk of our possesions is of what we do not simply intend to have, but a by-product of what we already have: our parents. Well, he might just be lucky with that iTouch.

So where does envy come in?

I think when you see “what you are not” or “what you do not have” over “who you are” and “what you have”. Of course it’s normal to reflect or think about what you cannot do, haven’t done. It’s also inevitable to see your friends with a new “thing”, and have an involuntary reaction to want to have one also.

But then, when that sense of “NOT-ness” overshadows identity, there might be something wrong already.